Saturday, December 6, 2008

Pictures and stuff from Mom's visit

It's back to the village for me after Mom's wonderful visit. I'm still coming down from the high of great food, relaxing days, and of course having a friend around all the time. But now it's the season for threshing peanuts, and Tabaski is coming up again. Everybody's days are spent in the fields, holding huge bowls of peanuts and chaff high in the air and pouring them out so the grass blows away in the wind. People are shelling their peanuts, selling them to the boutique, and otherwise life is back to the way it was when I got here this time last year.
Tabaski is on Wednesday, and my counterpart just went to buy a sheep in Dinguraye. The moms have their hair braided, and tomorrow we plan to do henna on our hands and feet. Time for noos! Then, the girls' group has invited (well, I invited, on their behalf) a trainer to come teach them how to make soap in the village, so there's that to look forward to. Also, the books are definitely in circulation! I'm arranging to be availible two days a week for return/check-outs and the kids are loving it. Even though they can't read most of the English words, they can still enjoy the pictures and learn from them. So, things are going well here in the village.

And now, some photos from Mom's trip!


The best tea in Senegal on Ile de Goree. He also voted for Obama, as you may be able to see from the sticker.

This Aby makes much better bean sandwiches than I do!

A special treat for me was a two-hour horseback ride in the savannah around Toubab Dialaw. So wonderful! Thanks, Mom!

Mom enjoying a nap in one of our beachside hotels. This is the beautifully decorated Sobo-Bade, which reminds me of Hobbiton.

Our last name on a pirogue.

Walking with a tailor in his fabulous shirt, in Palmerin.

You can barely see her, but here is Mom in our awesome treehouse! The Lodge des Collines de Niassam was perhaps the best hotel I've ever been in.

Me buying vegetables from the same guy every week, at the louma in Nioro.

The family portrait.

Mom and I and all of our stuff in a charette to the village.

Me in a St. Louis cafe. Are we still in Senegal? It's hard to say in this picture!

Letters, visitors, and packages from home keep us Volunteers sane. Thank you, maman!!!!

2 comments:

Maman said...

Don't we just cut the finest figure. Life is good. And PCV Abigail continues to make us all proud. P.S. Betsy is saying "hope and change hope and change" as the Tea Man flashes us the Peace sign. He was right. It WAS the best tea in Senegal.

Mack said...

beautiful pictures Abigail! Thanks so much for sharing them. It is lovely to see you and your mom together!